Proposed federal bill could complicate voter registration for Penn students, experts say

As the United States Senate considers a bill requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections, The Daily Pennsylvanian spoke with Penn experts, campus groups, and Philadelphia election administrators about the act’s implications for student voters. 

The Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility Act, known as the SAVE America Act, would require individuals to present government-issued documentation while registering and voting in person. While the bill aims to address fraud, experts told the DP it could also introduce new barriers for voters.

Political science professor Marc Meredith told the DP that the bill could present logistical challenges for Penn students seeking to register to vote in Pennsylvania. Although students may possess the required documentation, he said, they may not have it readily available in their dorm rooms or apartments, which can prevent registration close to the deadline.

Philadelphia City Commissioner Seth Bluestein, a member of the city’s Board of Elections, raised similar concerns about student voters in Philadelphia. Bluestein — a 2011 College and Fels Institute of Government graduate — noted that while student IDs are currently accepted as valid identification for voting, they may no longer qualify under the proposed law. 

“It would require a government-issued ID, which not every student on campus gets,” Bluestein told the DP. “They’re almost definitely not traveling with their birth certificate, so it will make it harder to register on campus and vote in Philadelphia for students who aren’t from the city.” 

Political science professor Matthew Levendusky wrote in a statement to the DP that even if voters have an original birth certificate, those who have changed their name would be disenfranchised because it wouldn’t match their government ID while registering.

All three experts said that voter impersonation and noncitizen participation, which the bill seeks to prevent, are rare.

Bluestein, who oversees voter registration and election administration in the city, said that noncitizen participation, although possible, is “pretty rare.” He added that Philadelphia has identified “a few hundred individuals” over roughly the past 15 years who registered or voted improperly.

“The question is whether that level of participation warrants such a huge change that risks disenfranchising potentially thousands of people,” Bluestein said.

Meredith similarly stated that the number of documented cases of voter fraud is “really low” and that the tension between the bill’s scope and the prevalence of the issue has become essential to the debate.

“You’re trying to solve a problem that exists at such a small scale that the idea that this would affect elections is pretty unlikely,” Meredith said. 

He added that he is “pretty skeptical” of claims that known cases of improper registration and participation represent only “the tip of an iceberg.”

Levendusky wrote that there is “no credible evidence” of “systemic” voter fraud, citing both government audits and academic research. 

According to the experts, the law’s implementation could pose challenges for both voters and election administrators.

“For many people, it’s not just knowing about the policy, it’s knowing about it with enough time to get the documents and re-register ahead of the election,” Levendusky wrote. 

Bluestein said that requiring in-person verification of citizenship documents would increase workload and strain local resources for election administrators.

“It would be a burden, not only on the individual voters, but it would require a lot more resources from the county to be able to administer that,” he said. 

He added that such changes would be “really difficult to implement in a short period of time.”

Meredith also flagged concerns about the bill’s timeline, noting that it would require major changes before the 2026 election. He described the bill as an example of legislation that “probably hasn’t given enough thought to how we actually pull this off in the timeframe that we would need to have the 2026 elections use all these policies.” 

He added that while it’s difficult to predict which groups would be most affected, the overall impact could include some eligible voters being unable to cast ballots.

“My expectation is there will be a significant number of people prevented from voting, especially if this law went into effect for 2026,” Meredith said.

Student political groups offered sharply different perspectives on how the legislation would play out on Penn’s campus. 

A Penn College Republicans spokesperson wrote in a statement to the DP that the bill won’t have an impact on students’ ability to vote.

“Penn students should already possess a valid form of government-issued identification beyond a student ID,” the spokesperson wrote. “We support the SAVE Act and have full confidence in the strength and integrity of the American voting system.”

A spokesperson for Penn Democrats wrote that the bill would “create unnecessary barriers in the voter registration process” and that it could disenfranchise “foreign-born Americans, married women who have changed their last names, and student voters.”

“Penn Dems strongly condemns the SAVE ACT, which would deprive millions of Americans of their right to vote,” the spokesperson added. “We urge our Senators, including John Fetterman, to vote NO on the SAVE ACT, and protect our fundamental right to vote.” 

The SAVE America Act passed the U.S. House of Representatives in February and now faces the Senate, where its prospect of overcoming a filibuster remains uncertain. If passed, the bill will go to 1968 Wharton graduate and President Donald Trump’s desk to be signed into law. 

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